Sky plc was recently taken over by American communications giant Comcast, which was followed by the departure of chairman James Murdoch who was a driving force behind the broadcaster’s cycling sponsorship.

Tinkov, the founder of Tinkoff Bank who started out in consumer businesses including a brewery and restaurants, has been closely involved in a number of cycling ventures.

In 2005 he founded Pro Continental team Tinkoff Restaurants, now WorldTour team Katusha-Alpecin, before his sponsorship ended in 2008 due to disagreements with coach Alexander Kuznetsov.

In 2012 Tinkov returned to cycling as a co-sponsor of Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, before he took full control of the team the following year.

The team’s most notable riders include Alberto Contador and Peter Sagan, who both had famous public disagreements with their team boss.

In 2016, Tinkov revealed he would be leaving cycling sponsorship.

Despite being open to selling off Tinkoff, the team folded at the end of the 2016 season.

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